Yesterday we made an exception here at Twisted Reviews and we missed the traditional one-per-day article. No wonder, after we finally got our hands on the new RPG from Bioware, that claims it would be something like Baldur’s Gate first true spiritual successor. And, despite the fact nothing could be better than the masterpiece Baldur’s Gate trilogy was, Dragon Age seems to be exactly what was promised – an amazing game that draws your attention like nothing else.

Now the cynics and the wiser-than-thou (thank AMD for the expression) would find a thousand ways the game could be even better, but we would say is just  “No way”! Dragon Age: Origins is one of the very few games after the Infinity engine era that promises such story and character development depth and offers it in a graphically modern package full of beauty, yet the game plays like those early traditional D&D bestsellers. Since 2001, when the last part of Baldur’s game came out, the market turned more and more commercial and game studios rarely had the opportunity to even try to make something that could take the Best-RPG crown off of BG series.

Story-wise Neverwinter Nights 2 and it’s first expansion almost managed to do it, but they still had their issues. When the last NWN2 expansion was released, the game really started to look like the perfect base to make a true descendant of BG series. But then, the latest D&D rules, although they were much more detailed than their earlier incarnations, weren’t nearly as good for engaging user attention as the old ones, and were overwhelming to these new to the system itself. KoTOR and it’s second part were sci-fi rather than fantasy games, but they still served as base for another great game – Mass Effect (and we already expect its second part), which somehow managed to lower the need of in-depth knowledge about game’s system without turning the hardcore fans hostile. But now…

Now Bioware made a system that is closer to what most people would see in hack&slash RPGs and yet it blends with the deep pre-planning the other games of that type had. What we saw in our early game is that the story start depends on your choices during character creation, which makes sense in a world where races are divided. The storry pulls you like nothing else, but if you expect constant action, you will be disappointed as the game offers engaging story and Pause-based battle system, which makes it better suited for those who like such system in the first place. And those people waited for years to get that jewel, so don’t go bashing the game that it’s not action or trendy – it is not, but it has its innovations in the game mechanics.

As with any other game it’s the game’s engine that make it good too. Dragon Age’s engine look beautiful and it works well on lower-end machines without compromising graphical quality, which sound like job well done by the developing team. Today, when most games are judged by their graphic quality, it is pleasing to see that developers put such efforts in a game that doesn’t even have to look so good to get a decent fan base.

Now to the most important question – is the game worth it?

Every penny*

*Probably not if you like better FPS or action games, other RPG mechanics or you are one of those ATI/NVIDIA fanboys with  their dual or tripple VGA setup. In few words – it’s for those who played Baldur’s Gate series like 3 or 4 times since 2001, desperately looking for another game that could engage their attention the same way Baldur’s Gate did.

Tags: Baldur's Gate, Bioware, Dragon Age, Game of The Year, games

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